Elk Grove schools locked down after stapler was mistaken for gun, police say
Elk Grove High School and nearby Florence Markofer Elementary School were briefly locked down early Friday afternoon due to police activity in the area, but authorities said all students and staff are safe.
The incident began from “a report of a suspicious, possibly armed, subject at Elk Grove High School,” but police quickly determined that it was actually a student with a stapler.
“During the course of the investigation, officers learned a student used a stapler as a prop to act out a scene from a movie,” the Elk Grove Police Department wrote in a social media post just after 1 p.m. “The stapler was open and the reporting party believed they saw a weapon.”
The department first announced in a social media post at 12:30 p.m. that law enforcement activity was underway in the area of Elk Grove Florin Road and Valley Oak Lane, near the two schools.
At 12:40 p.m., police wrote that “all students and staff are safe” but that officers were doing a “precautionary sweep” of the high school campus. By 12:50 p.m. police announced the schools’ lockdowns had been lifted.
Police said no crime was committed and the incident was turned over to school administration.
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 1:00 PM.
